


Runes

by Severa



Series: Green and Gold [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, FrostIron - Freeform, Gen, M/M, Space Stone, Time Stone, Tony catches the flu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 18:04:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6620797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severa/pseuds/Severa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thor says Loki died. Tony thinks otherwise, but he might work himself to death before he can prove it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_“Loki’s only mistake was coming home.” Thor’s thumb traced the rim of his glass, his eyes downcast. “He came to our aid, to warn us of war, but Father… He decided to hand down judgement for his crimes.”_

_Tony rounded the corner of his couch and took a seat, wiping his hands on his jeans. It wasn’t often he let Thor anywhere near the workshop, but Steve was on patrol and the big guy looked like he needed someone to talk to. That, and a drink._

_“He only threatened to attack us, he didn’t actually-”_

_“For his crimes against Jotunheim. Against the House of Odin. It was…” Thor shook his head and took a drink. He emptied his cup. “...a sentence for eternity.”_

_Tony poured himself a drink. DUM-E wheeled up with his claw extended, chirped, and tugged on his sleeve. Tony handed him the bottle and pointed at Thor’s cup. DUM-E dutifully filled it to the brim._

_“Thank you, my friend.” Thor smiled, patting the robot on his frame._

_DUM-E chirped happily and splashed expensive liquor on the ground._

_“And?” Tony asked. “There’s always an ‘and,’ with him...”_

_“And? Well.” Thor looked away, leaning back heavily into the couch. He tipped his drink down his throat. “Loki died.”_

_Thor let his glass fall to the ground. Tony barely heard it shatter._

* * *

Tony held his hands to his temples.

_“Sir, I must insist-”_

“JARVIS, I swear to God, you're about to knock DUM-E up a rung on the AI ladder.” Tony warned. DUM-E chirped happily from somewhere in the workshop. “No singing until my smoothie’s done. Chop, chop, number two. Crush some ibuprofen in it.”

The tell-tale clanging sounds of DUM-E fighting with a blender commenced. Tony delved back into his work.

 _“Duly noted.”_ JARVIS reported, though he didn’t seem to care. _“Your temperature is rising. I advise rest.”_

“Whatever you say, WebMD.” Tony circled around a table, critiquing his own work. “How’s Pepper?”

Asleep on the workshop couch, sick, but better, just where he’d left her. He knew the answer.

_“Stable. Her symptoms are subsiding. Yours are not.”_

“It’s just the sniffles.”

_“Need I remind you of the hole in your chest, sir?”_

Tony tapped the arc reactor. “I’m aware, thanks.”

_“And what that means in regards to your immune system?”_

“I’m a delicate flower, I know, Jarv’, I know.” Tony groaned. His head was pounding, but he had work to do. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

_“That’s the problem.”_

Tony laughed even though it wasn’t funny. If Pepper hadn’t gotten sick too, she would probably be dragging him up to bed. Forcibly.

Tony knew JARVIS was right - he was being ridiculous. Having a hole blown in your chest made even the common cold particularly dangerous. The flu? He might as well be baby-Steve in the forties.

Oh, and if Steve knew what shit he was pulling right now, he’d probably wish the flu had already done him in. At some point, JARVIS would get desperate. Steve _would_ be called. Tony just had to finish his work before that happened.

“All right.”

He sat backwards in a chair, wheeling himself over to the table. He leaned heavily against the backrest and folded his arms over the top of it, resting his chin on his forearms.

“Lights at 20, Jarv’.”

The lights obediently dimmed and Tony looked over his array of technology one last time. He had a collection of sensors and various devices all angled precisely at one point on the table, which had been pen-marked with an ‘X’.

Loki had died on some other planet. Sacrificed himself for Thor. For Jane friggin’ Foster.

Tony didn’t believe it in the slightest. Couldn’t, maybe. Definitely wouldn’t.

* * *

_“Doesn’t feel like he’s dead.” Tony thought aloud, leaning over the back of the community couch. “Jesus, are you watching MASH? Didn’t take you for the masochistic type.”_

_Commentary aside, Steve wasn’t one to take Tony or his confessions lightly. He turned down the volume on the television to give him his full attention._

_“It’s hard losing people, Tony. It never feels like they’re dead.”_

_“That’s not what I mean. This isn’t my first rodeo, Cap. ”_

_“I know. Loki was…” he searched for a kind term. “...a good warrior. But that doesn’t change that he’s gone.”_

_“Good? More like terrifying.” Tony pointed out. “And that sounds soft comin’ from you. Wasn’t like you trusted him.”_

_“I didn’t have to. But he saved us from Hydra anyway, didn’t he?”_

_“Because he got to make things go ‘boom’ in the process.” Tony climbed over the back of the couch and fell into a proper seat, stealing the remote in the process._

_“You trust him.”_

_“No, he doesn’t.” Clint piped in, taking a seat on an armrest. He plucked the remote out of Tony’s hand and tossed it to Steve, who caught it effortlessly. “But he’s right. Doesn’t feel like the bastard’s dead.”_

_“Never does.”_

* * *

Tony sifted through all the information on his holographic screens, tossing pointless charts one way and flicking relevant readings another. Loki’s rune was being subjected to every type of scan and analysis known to man, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It was the same gibberish as always, too complex for JARVIS or himself to make sense of.

Maybe that was a good thing, Tony thought. If the rune was powered by Loki’s magic, wouldn’t it have disappeared with his death? Then again, Tony’s genius didn’t give him any insight on Asgardian magic. That had always been Loki’s game.

DUM-E wheeled up with his smoothie, nudging the bottle against his arm. Tony took it with a muttered thanks and patted him on the claw before he rolled away.

“Good boy.”

He tipped his glass up to the rune and the world started to spin. He pressed his head against the bottle afterwards, stealing what little coolness it had. The fever was getting worse.

_“Sir?”_

“DUM-E- oh.”

He turned his head and saw his little robot already next to him, holding out a cold compress. His claw tilted like he was thinking and Tony smiled.

“Thanks, bud.”

He held the ice pack to his neck and let the faint nausea pass as he rubbed the arc reactor. It had started itching since his newest upgrade, but not enough for him to care.

“All right.” He shook his head, trying to focus again. “Watch and learn, JARVIS. Scalpel.”

With uncharacteristic care, DUM-E picked up the blade and placed it in Tony’s outstretched palm. His precision was appreciated since Tony’s hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

_“Sir.”_

“I’ll be fine.”

_“In the interest of your health…”_

Tony stopped listening. He nicked an old scar on the back of his hand and let the blood pool. His focus waned as his vision started to darken around the corners. The scalpel clattered onto the table where he dropped it.

“C’mon, Horns.” Tony fumbled for the sunglasses on the table. His blood felt hot running over his knuckles. “Time to call your bluff.”

He managed to jam his glasses on as the spinning continued. He didn’t remember picking up the rune again, but he must have. He saw himself holding it underneath the sensors. It was smeared in his blood.

_“Sir.”_

Tony didn’t respond. He couldn’t.

_“Sir?”_

His eyes slid shut.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another piece of our colorful story.
> 
> This was originally supposed to be a short fluff piece about Loki taking care of Tony while he's sick, but then plot happened. Place this after (the slightly-edited) events of Thor 2, but before the end of Part One (Color).


	2. Chapter 2

_“Ah, you fool, you didn’t listen.”_

_Loki seemed surprised. Upset, perhaps, but at what? Himself? He had taken the blade. He had been the fool, as Thor said, but he had chosen his own path. He was dying. For Thor._

_“I’m a fool.” Yes, he was. “I’m a fool.”_

_“No, stay with me. Stay with me.”_

_There was a hand on his face. Thor, holding onto him._

_“I’m sorry.” Loki was. For everything. “I’m sorry.”_

_Where was Thanos now? There had been nowhere to hide - no barren moon - but their threat had never found him. His death had come by a different monster._

_“It’s okay.” Thor whispered._

_And for a moment Loki forgot about his past. He saw his brother and his brother saw him, beyond all the crimes and the pains they had committed for and against each other. Their mother had died. They had lost her, and now one of them was bound to lose something else._

_Then there was a fire in his chest that blazed higher than any heaven. It was unlike anything he had ever known. More painful than his fall from the Bifrost._

_The boy, Loki thought. Stark._

_Was this what they felt every time they died? Were they agonizing in an inferno until they could no longer take another breath? What had he doomed that boy to, that child…?_

_“...It’s all right.” Thor was saying. “I’ll tell Father what you did here today.”_

_Loki blinked. He was elsewhere, his breath heaving and bed sheets strewn about him. This wasn’t his body. He wasn’t dying, but he felt like he was. A voice was asking after his well being. Loki said something in response, but it wasn’t in his tone and wasn’t his choice._

_“I’m fine, Jarv’,” it lied._

_There was something in his chest. It sat cold and heavy, pitted against his heart, and yet somehow connected to everything. It had a taste._

_‘Coconut,’ Stark’s thoughts supplied. ‘Metal.’_

_But more importantly, it had a feeling._

_‘They asked me to hide it. Put it somewhere safe.’_

_The Tesseract. In Tony’s heart._

_He blinked again and he was back in Thor’s arms. Out of Stark’s mind and back on Svartalfheim, dying, but there was a thread of something else in him. An energy. A soul?_

_A soul gem._

_It lit a flame within his magic. The whispers of the Tesseract were realms away, but with this Convergence and their fates drawn together, it could breathe life back into him from afar. Illusions had always suited Loki more than healing, but with this power he could do anything._

_He could live._

_But he needed to die._

_For this arc to be over, for his redemption to be won, Thor needed to see his brother die for him._

_The illusion was cast. Loki survived and perished all at once._

_“I didn’t do it for him.”_

* * *

All this had started with a dream. A nightmare.

Before Thor had come back after the London incident, Tony hadn’t been sleeping. He had blamed it on the arc reactor upgrade. The light was brighter and the thing felt heavier, somehow. It made sense. He had hidden away the world’s most powerful energy source inside the world’s formerly most powerful energy source. That was bound to give anyone the shakes.

But then he had woken up in the middle of the night and thought he was dying.

Someone had stabbed him. He could feel the blade in his stomach, streaking white-hot through his body and jutting out his spine. The blood ran hot down his torso as his veins erupted in fire. He could taste the arc reactor core as it shattered.

But everything was fine. Quick inspection revealed there were no blades. No blood. Just one singular thought -

_Loki._

Thor had come home a few days later.

Tony hadn’t left his workshop since.

When he opened his eyes again all he could see was the rune. He was face down on his workshop table with the scalpel teetering close to the edge. He hadn’t moved an inch from where he had fainted.

_“Sir.”_

“I don’t want to hear it.”

He pulled his sunglasses off his face in defeat. There was nothing. There were no vibrant colors to accost him. Just the dim lights of the workshop and his failure, all summed up in one ancient stone. The blood on it had dried.

He rubbed his face and felt his skin burning. Maybe it was time to take a page out of Pepper’s book. Sleep, so he didn’t have to think...

“Fine. You win. Put on the chicken-noodle and-”

The world got violently bright in two seconds flat. Tony reeled back from the table, sitting straight up and putting an arm over his face.

“Jesus, JARVIS, turn it do-”

“...Well.” Loki breathed. “You’ve gotten yourself quite worked up.”


	3. Chapter 3

Tony spun around in his chair so fast that he almost hurled all over Loki’s polished boots. 

“Where the hell’av you-”

Loki quieted him with a single look. Vertical lines drew his brows up and together with the faintest concern. It was a micro-expression; Loki hid behind a facade of cool and calm, but he was an emotional man. Crazy, even. Tony had gotten used to reading between the lines.

“You’re ill.” 

It wasn’t a question. Loki slid the sunglasses over Tony’s cheekbones and onto his face, fingers brushing against feverish skin.

“Uh-huh,” was all Tony could manage in response. He couldn’t remember Loki picking up the sunglasses in the first place.

Loki looked the same as he always had. Maybe his hair was a little longer and the wrinkles around his eyes were a little deeper, but everything still blazed the same shade of green. The sunglasses hardly helped.

“What do you want of me, Stark?” His hands fell away from his face. “I’m no bed nurse.”

For a moment, Tony was speechless. 

Loki was  _ alive.  _

“Find your tongue.” Loki’s feigned annoyance turned to mild concern. He reached out to touch his forehead. “...You’re boiling.”

Tony was stuck in a mental loop - buffering while Loki waited for a response. Before he could think of anything to say, Loki had hauled him off his chair. His patience had run out. There was no time to protest before he found himself being bodily moved to the couch.

He was deposited somewhat gently on the opposite side from Pepper, who was still asleep. He struggled into an upright position as Loki settled into the middle seat. Pepper only groaned and curled up tighter.

“The Lady Pepper-”

“Where were you?” Tony demanded, elbowing the armrest to prop himself up. “Thor said-”

“Thor believes whatever I wish.” Loki dismissed. “My whereabouts are hardly important.”

He leaned forward to place his hands on the sides of Tony’s head, fingers pushing through his hair. Tony’s protest died on his lips. Loki’s hands were like ice.

“Shit…” he breathed. “Just break out of the iceberg, Cap’?”

“Quiet.” 

Tony leaned forward until his forehead was in the crook of Loki’s neck. Loki allowed it, his hands sliding around to the back of Tony’s head and resting on the back of his neck. His touch cooled everywhere it went. Even his neck gave off a chill.

“Where were you?”

He closed his eyes and inhaled deep. Smoke and rain, with a hint of burning ozone. Leather. 

The arc reactor itched. It felt like it was spinning in its slot. 

“Nowhere.” Loki’s breath skated over his ear. “Don’t concern yourself-”

“Why weren’t you here?”

Tony pulled back to look at him. JARVIS brought up the lights out of courtesy. 

Loki’s face was drawn with flat lines and parted lips as he thought about this question. Then his expression collapsed in; his mouth pursed into a thin line and his eyes fell down with the angle of his brows. Was it distress? Shame? Tony couldn’t place it, but when Loki looked back to him it was with a quiet resolve. 

“My attention was needed elsewhere.”

“I thought you were  _ dead! _ ” Tony’s anger hung between them. His next words were quieter, but that was only for Pepper’s sake. “We all thought you were dead, Loki.”

“I needed to be.” Loki pulled his hands away, short and sharp with his response. There was a flash of confusion in his expression, but he didn’t falter.

“You don’t have to go everything alone, goddammit.”

“If I have a need for you, you will know it.”

“Cut the crap.” Tony felt the world spin again. “This isn’t just some army for an army shit anymore-”

“You’re right.”

This stopped Tony short. Loki lunged at the opportunity to be heard.

“Our…  _ alliance _ has evolved. The bond is more prevalent.” A flash of green washed over him and his duster and armor disappeared. He sat before Tony in dark trousers and a green tunic, holding their rune between them. “I was meant to die. Thor’s account would be true, if not for you.”

Tony took the rune from him, closing his fist around it. 

“I didn’t do-”

“You felt it.” Loki insisted. “You deny it, rationalize it, but that is the truth.” 

Tony stared. He took off his sunglasses, blinking against the green and black. The dream…

“And I found one of your secrets.”

Loki’s hand crossed the distance between them to touch the arc reactor over his shirt. Tony grabbed his wrist out of instinct, but Loki didn’t flinch. Fire shot through his heart, like a bolt of lightning in the chest. 

“Don’t.” 

Loki didn’t relent. 

“You placed an infinity stone in your heart.” Loki’s focus dropped to the blue beacon of his chest. “You willed me to live. You wielded it.”

“It’s in the reactor, not- I didn’t-”

“Deny if you wish.” Loki let his hand rise up to touch his cheek. “Whatever you believe changes nothing. I am alive.”

Tony leaned against his touch. He didn’t know if his anger was fading because of the fever or because of Loki’s words. Either way, the cool touch was welcome.

“Why are you so cold, then?”

The tension bled out of Loki’s expression. He shook his head with a distant smile.

“That’s an entirely different story.”

“...Your hands are blue.”

“Again. A different story.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might write more to this later, but for now I'll call it done.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
